HP
also reported that it plans to announce that its board of directors has
authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems
Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among
others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other
transaction.

IDC produced similar figures and reported that HP shipped
15.2 million PCs/18.1% compared to 10.9 million/12.9% for Dell.

Despite HP's beastly PC shipments, the never-ending race to
the bottom when it comes to final transaction prices for consumers means that
there's little room for profit in this cutthroat business. While Apple can get
away with charging customers $999
for an 11" notebook or $2,499
for a 17" desktop replacement notebook, PC users tend to be more price
sensitive.

A June
report from The Loop suggests
that Apple makes more money from selling just one computer than HP does from
selling seven.

Bloomberg reports that HP, which is helmed by
Leo Apotheker, wants to leave the hardware business behind and focus on its
more lucrative software and cloud services offerings. “This is the direction we
want him to take,” stated ISI Group analyst Abhey Lamba. “Get out of a low-
margin business and focus more on his core competency, which is software.”